Wladyslaw III of Poland

Wladyslaw Jagiello III of Poland and Hungary (31 October 1424-10 November 1444), also called Ladislav or Ulaszlo was the King of Poland and Hungary from 1434 and 1440, respectively. Wladyslaw was famous for fighting in The Long Campaign of 1444, and he was killed in the final Battle of Varna. His general Janos Hunyadi would take over as regent of the Kingdom of Poland, Hungary, and Wallachia until 1447.

Biography


Ladislav was from Krakow, Poland, and his name was Ladislav Jagiello. He was born into a Russian and Polish royal family, the House of Jagiello. He inherited the title of King of Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, and Croatia, Lord of Krakow, Sandomierz, Sieradz, Leczyca, and Kuyavia, Prince of Lithuania, and heir of Ruthenia and Pommerania.

King Wladyslaw was thus powerful, as he was born to the Jagiellonian line. He was called the "bulwark of Christianity" against the expanding Islamic Ottoman Empire to the south, although true credit went to his brilliant general Janos Hunyadi. The two of them were placed in charge of the so-called "The Long Campaign" in 1444, and the two created a large army that was supposed to liberate large portions of Bulgaria and the lands south of there.

Death at Varna
King Ladislav and his forces (including forces from Poland, Hungary, Papal States, Bohemia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Lithuania, Croatia, the Teutonic Knights, and the Bulgarian rebels), totaling some 30,000 troops, embarked on a chivalric quest to defend Christian Europe.

The Christians were divided by differences in command and they were left with an inadequate amount of troops when Ottoman king Murad II met them in the Battle of Varna, November 1444. Ladislav and Hunyadi achieved great success and the Crusader army nearly pushed the Ottoman forces back. Ladislav ill-advisedly waded into the fighting on his horse with his bodyguards behind him, and he was beheaded. Wladyslaw's death turned the tide of battle and his forces collapsed. Hunyadi became the regent of Hungary after his death.